


Out of Mind

by upquarkAO3



Series: Random Dross from Season Two [5]
Category: Lucifer (TV)
Genre: F/M, but ACTUALLY fluffy, eventually, it is the devil's business after all, it's actually fluffy, not fluffy, some mayhem, yet another toying with 'chloe gets a clue concept'
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-09
Updated: 2017-01-09
Packaged: 2018-09-15 21:50:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9258647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/upquarkAO3/pseuds/upquarkAO3
Summary: Chloe has an out-of-body experience. Fortunately, Lucifer would rather do nothing else than keep an eye on it for her.





	

  
It had all started, like many important things do, mixed up with other completely unrelated important things.

And  that  had been no small matter in and of itself, either.

It had been a rough couple of days and indeed the Decker Family Jewels were a little tarnished by impersonal bureaucracy, personal malevolence and general ass-hattery. After a difficult afternoon together after the final courthouse debacle, Penelope had let her daughter know she was *okay enough*. Like many parents, Chloe herself included, most shielded harsh realities from their children when they could, and Penny knew her need-to-do-to-deal daughter could be of no further salve today. She’d lost the love of her life to the very violence he’d tried to assuage and hid (mostly) her worry for her daughter walking within his path. After that terrible day sixteen years ago the clear-cut decision to relish life and circumvent pain for others as she could, especially those she loved, had been made. And she renewed it again looking at the flowers that strangely familiar young man had left behind. A life could be beautiful and precious to others even after it was over, like these fragrantly dead petals in her hands.

Like her husband had been. Beautiful, so very to her. Everything she’d ever wanted and she smiled to know she’d been lucky enough to have him for a time. After all, most everything was transient and fleeting. Youth, beauty. Opportunity. But some loves…no, **some** loves were unbound by time and remained strong even long after they’d ended. Left alone, she no longer needed to keep up the ‘act’ she and Lucifer had discussed in the courtroom and the first watering Amenadiel’s flowers received was salt-tinged.

Elsewhere, another Decker made headway of her own. After spending some time with her mom and making sure she was okay Chloe had wanted to see Lucifer. Not to debrief, not to even go further into those deeper things they’d just barely begun to say to one another.

No, when you’ve simultaneously been through the wringer and still chose to let the armor you’d worn for so long it was practically a living part of you slip…yeah, sometimes easi ness  was easi  est  after. And for all his complexity, Lucifer could certainly ‘do easy’ if the mood struck. And he’d seemed to want the same thing this day. They’d been tracking toward each other (as they had ever been) and after meeting him in his own foyer they’d had a small picnic of repast and respite on his balcony.

If Chloe had any idea what her ex and her roommate were getting up to elsewhere she probably would have been outwardly appalled (but jubilant inside) as Perry Smith was shuffled viciously from his mortal coil.

The Devil however, would have hired the horn sections from multiple brass bands to accompany that particular malcontent down the fastest, greasiest chute straight through to the foulest bowels of Hell. And toasted the journey’s alacrity with an expensive drink in his hand and expansive gleam in his eye.

But that’s not what was happening here. Not now.

Not at all.

_A look. A touch. A lean. Anticipation._

_All shared._

_As was the horror, after._

The sudden blood pouring from her both were helpless to stem. Lucifer watched in desperate panic as Chloe faded from him, from herself and screaming the heavens down he received the timely gift of his demon’s arrival.

Under Maze’s direction they took Chloe to the closest human hospital, where for long hours no amount of mortal care could either cure or correct what (or  who ) ailed her. And as fast as they pumped it into her, still the blood flowed.

Beside himself, Lucifer strode the hallways until the solution came to him as suddenly as it had to another. He’d barely turned back to her room (that horrible place, antiseptic of emotion…) when Maze met him. Face on, as she always did. As she’d always done everything.

“Are we going to DO something about this? Are  you ?”

“ **Yes** .  Now . Enough time’s been wasted in this hell on earth already.”

Storming towards Chloe’s ICU door they were met by two more. His brother and her daughter. Glancing at Amenadiel Lucifer knelt and spoke to Trixie’s tears as the little girl sobbed quietly into her hands, small throat rasped by hours’ worth of this grief. He gently pulled her fingers down and bade her look at him. Like her mother, none of his tricks worked on her, but the strength in his gaze was enough for her to respond to. And she did listen; he could feel it.

“Upon my honor, child, I shall let no further harm come to your mother, hear?’ She nodded. Helpless. But not hopeless. Not anymore.

Lucifer looked up. “Amenadiel. I need – you know.”

“Yes, brother, I’ll try.”

“ Don’t  bloody TRY. DO!”

For answer Amenadiel closed his eyes, exhaled softly and with angelic grace extended the long fingers of one hand into the flow of time. And it snagged. Just enough to quell the mortals around them.

“Mazikeen.”

“My lord.”

“I’m no longer that.”

“You  were  . For a long, LONG time. But we were friends even then though we may not have realized. More than that. Are still. And I’ll still be with you…from now until the end. Whenever and  **how** **ever** that comes. But  for  this, to  do  this…I think you’ll need to be…more than you are now.”

“I know it. Thank you, my  friend , for always telling me what I needed, not what I wanted. Remind me of myself a bit, actually.” He smirked a little at her as they moved into the room undisturbed, and she went to object until she saw the latently dark humor gleaming in the darkness of his eyes. His REAL eyes. Self-absorbed but self-aware. Always that odd combination, Lucifer had been. Still…

“Yeah, fat chance. I’m a lot prettier.”

“Riiiiiight. Do tell yourself that.”

Stepping between Dan and Penelope caught in the amber of Amenadiel’s time trick, Lucifer strode to the bed and stripped away all the lines and tubes and leads that wouldn’t save Chloe. Not this time. Not this way. As Maze watched the hall to make sure Amenadiel’s influence hadn’t wavered the Devil bundled his saving grace up in her sheets and gathered her in his arms. Sweeping out with Maze in the lead the hellions left and returned to Lux. As the elevator opened into his penthouse, Lucifer turned to Maze with his burden.

“Here. Hold her.  And for Heaven’s sake be careful . I’ll be right back.”

Standing in the middle of his living room under the deep weight of both his words and the fourth friend she’d ever made, the demon asked her devil what he planned to do. When no answer was immediately forthcoming, she asked again, becoming slightly frantic as the blood flowing from Chloe’s face increased. She could care less about blood. About mayhem. But this was her friend.

“Lucifer?!”

“Just wait, Mazikeen. Got more than one celestial trick up my sleeve.”

When he reappeared from behind the stained glass partition with a burden of his own, she nearly dropped Chloe in shock.

“Here. Put her  here . Quickly now.”

Still stunned, Maze lay the human (pale, so pale under the red blood staining her skin) upon the folded wing Lucifer had spread upon the couch. He quickly covered her with the other. And only then, only after they’d watched the blood slow, could Maze ask. She’d suspected…something…but still. It was a shock to see them again after so long, and only for the second time.

“But I thought…how did you…?”

“Assumptions are misleading, aren’t they? Story for another time, as we’ve yet to see how this one turns.”

After a long while, it appeared that while his wings were of great aid, Chloe’s recovery wasn’t complete. Just as when her blood first spilled, she remained silent. And worse, not present. Lucifer could feel her absence even as the stream had slowed to a rivulet. And for the first time in six years, felt another absence, too. Another healing needing to happen.

His wings. He could feel them calling. He was shocked at his desire to don them, but past that didn’t know how he felt about it. And for the moment, with everything else he’d ever wanted hanging in the balance, Lucifer didn’t care.

And as he’d needed Mazikeen’s help before, he needed her still now.

As likely he ever would, in their way.

“Maze? Will you?”

“If it’s what you want. Is it?”

“Yes.”

And as difficult as it had been for him, for them together to rend God’s work apart then, it was infinitely easier to reform now. Lucifer stripped off his blood-soaked jacket and shirt and as he’d stood to have his wings destroyed he now bowed before his demon and faced his delight to be repaired. Strangely enough, he felt more resiliently proud in this gesture than the other, but did not allow himself the time to wonder over it now.

With strength and poise Maze wielded his wings behind him, and the blinding flash and glare of mended grace caught her up as well. Her hands prickled and stung, sending energy tendriling throughout the rest of her body. She brushed at the worst of the buzz in her fingertips as Lucifer rose and extended his tremendous wingspan over them all.

Ever the pragmatist, Maze looked at Chloe. Her fragile human was still bleeding. The demon laid claim to all she loved and could be fierce in her loyalty. As she was now.

“Stop preening and hurry up!”

“It’ll be all right  now  , Maze. But you know this. You can feel it too, can’t you? You **are** feeling it, yourself, yes?” He stared pointedly at where she was wringing her dusky hands.

“I don’t know **what** you’re talking about. Just  go  …do whatever you’re….”

“Yes, yes. It’ll be all sorted. Thank you. For…”

“I **know** , Lucifer.”

And she did. And so did he.

But he  did  need keeping after. “Go!”

And he did. And so did she.

Wings splayed to their fullest and then flickered in a brief, recalibrating flourish before he gathered them close around the slight body he carried, Lucifer took Chloe to his room. From the balcony, body singing with new electricity Maze watched them go before she too, disappeared.

In the deep watches of the night Chloe felt as if she were resurfacing from a strange dream…almost as if she’d been lost in someone else’s. Her body felt oddly heavy and cumbersome even in stillness, as if it had recently been far lighter. Her throat was dry and sore, and it hurt to swallow when she tried. Taking stock, she was lying down and cosseted snugly within something that felt like a manifestation of her childhood daydreams. Soft, safe, secure…but where was she? She lifted her chin slightly from where she’d tucked almost into her chest to ratchet one eye halfway open.

It was dark, sort of.

But she did recognize that ceiling, also sort of. And thought the same words she’d said aloud the last time she’d seen it. ‘Oh no…’

“Lucifer???”

“Hm?”

He sounded sleepy. And near. HOW near? And WHY? First things first.

“Am I naked??”

“Unfortunately, no. Why do you ask?”

“We’re in your bedroom. In your bed.”

“Is that a question? Seems more of a declarative statement. Two, actually.”

Fine. Claimed devil in his details. “Are YOU naked??”

“Again, unfortunately no.” A muffled chuckle. “Well, not entirely. I am topless at the mo’ but I’m well covered – as are you - AND have my pants **AND** TROUSERS  **on** , Detective. Fret not. I’d never impinge upon your virtue without fully reciprocal enthusiasm. You ought to know that by now.”

Chloe fidgeted a little. Her head felt as if it was stuffed with gym socks from an entire middle school soccer team. A LOSING soccer team, whose clothes were fetid with the stench of despair. And her short-term memories and thoughts were as fuzzy as the toe-jam lint from those fictional stanky socks. Her body, however, was another story entirely. She felt as if she were resting within clouds. Soft: cool and warm at the same time (how what THAT possible?) and surrounded by a scent like rain-rinsed joy. That didn’t even make  sense  , but there it was. A featherbed? Down duvet? She didn’t remember Lucifer even _having_ a featherbed, but given his reputation in the boudoir she considered waking up on anything other than rubber sheets or leather straps a win here.

Wait. Hang on. She could feel the motor of her logical mind struggling to turn over. The clutch kept popping with an empty gasp, though. Chloe tried to shake her head a bit: anything to clear the rancid thought socks and lint out and winced as her sore throat objected. Her cheek brushed against…what? She opened both eyes fully for the first time. There was a faint hazy glow surrounding her – dawn? She shifted and blinked blearily at the wide span of windows over her shoulder.  No . Pitch dark outside except for the lights of the cityscape surrounding them.

She blinked again. Decided to solve one mystery at a time. Flexed her fingers to touch the strange cocoon she found herself bound in. So soft. Yielding. But with tensile strength, too. And glowing? Ivory? No… more  colors than that, but so subtle…hints of iridescence in these…wait, seriously?

“These are...what? Feathers?” She was surrounded by feathers? And the most gorgeous ones she’d ever been near. No way.

“Yes, those are.”

No way.  **No** . No FREAKING way these are…no WAY. What on earth? Oh wait…NO.  NOT  ‘on earth’ after all.  Holy shit  . Well, maybe **that** , all except the last part. Chloe struggled to get coherent words beaded on the string of at least one coherent sentence out from the tangles of her clouded mind.

“And so you have…?”

“Yes, I have. Had, actually. Removed permanently, or so I’d thought. Rather unpleasant all around. Now have again. ‘Came out of the closet with them’ as it were.” Sardonic chuckle here.

“So you’re  really  an…?” **He was.** Oh God.  OH GOD .

Both far away and close by and everything in-between as well as beyond simultaneously, God felt the twang of her shock as a spider feels a disturbance in its web of creation. And smiled with the mouth He didn’t have. After all, this  was  rather funny. And had been a long time coming, stubborn flicker of a human that this one was. As He knew. But when intrigued  this  son had ever been nothing but persistent. And still was, apparently.

“YES, Detective. As I’ve  said  on more than one occasion. ‘I’m really’. Or was. Am, sort of? Bit misplaced; in rather lots of ways at the moment. But yes: ‘these are’ and ‘I have’ and ‘I am’. All from the great ‘I AM’ hisself, so…Well. Truth be told I’m becoming concerned about all the babbling. Not like you in the slightest so perhaps you’ve suffered greater trauma than I’d thought?” Lucifer’s words are teasing. He is secure, knows she’s fine – he can feel it and doesn’t question how that’s possible. He  knows  how. Or rather **who** is responsible for that, partially annoyingly true as that may be.

Mesmerized, Chloe ran her fingers along the exquisite feathers and watched as little trills of light followed her hands, fascinated beyond words at the experience. Amazed and astounded she was quickly kept from getting too weirded out by the ‘grounding’ sigh of Lucifer. “Oh my, that does feel nice. Been ever so long since…well.  Never  actually, come to think on it. Wasn’t one for being petted last I wore these.”

Slowly, she gathered enough courage in the face of all this newness (that somehow, she HAD always known, strange as that was to consider) to ‘discover’ him by pulling gently at the wing in front of her. Facing each other with Chloe on her left side it seemed Lucifer had wrapped himself behind his left wing, and her in the right, then folded that one over them both. They were both haloed in rough-kempt feathery hinges and his eyes were closed still, but there was a tiny apostrophe of an implied smile framing the corner of his mouth.

“ How ? How did, uh…?”

“Hm. Still the babbling brook, I see. Hopefully that’ll improve. Rather disconcerting.” He chuckled as she huffed in irritation; even with his own eyes closed he can still practically see hers rolling. “’How’ is a two-parter, darling. Logistics and Practicality. First is Daddy Dearest sans hangers, the second marvelous Maze. She helped me – both times, being honest.”

MAZE. Oh my GOD. That meant…oh my **GOD**. Or NOT, considered what Maze had always claimed to be. Chloe just squeezed her eyes shut again, needing to deal with one mind-shattering thing at a time. “But…how?”

Eyes still closed, Lucifer took a deep breath, a more serious tone tinging his voice. “ **That** doesn’t matter so much. However, **this** does. My father loved me once. Enough to give me gifts…some of which I still have - of sorts. Apparently he still loves  you  as he’s allowed me this grace to heal you with.”

Chloe’s heart stopped for an infinite second as she realized what Lucifer had done, AGAIN, to save her life. There was more _he_ wasn’t saying. There was more _she_ wanted to say, but couldn’t yet. So…as always, as they’d ever been together, the small things came first. Truthfully, it was all she was capable of at the moment. And levelheaded as ever, she was transiently fine with that fact.

“You don’t mind? Having them back, I mean?”

“I’ve always ‘had them’ Detective. They’re mine – made only for me. Just…not wielded as he wanted. And no, I ‘don’t mind’. I got what  **I** wanted, and it was  my  choice.”

“And what’s that?”

“You. Here. As to the rest of what I’d want, that’s not entirely up to me. But for the moment, I don’t care. I’ve enough.” He wondered if he’d ever said and meant that before. Probably not, but it was still true. Apparently Frank had been right. This ‘plan’ of his father’s: whatever it entailed was indeed not complete. Not yet. And oddly enough the concept of becoming okay with the process as he’d never been before was alien but interesting. Lucifer sighed to himself; he  had  always loved ‘interesting’. Apparently Dad did, too. Case in point, Mum. Yet another small sigh as he wandered tiredly in his thoughts. However, he was pulled free of any potential miring-in by a small disturbance and glad of it.

Still a corporeal person, miracles or otherwise Chloe had yawned loudly, and he chuckled. “Honestly, you humans. Fascinating. Was worried for ever so long about blowing your mortal mind when you finally came ‘round and here you can barely keep your eyes open.”

“No! It’s just that…um…it’s a lot right now. Too much. Like you. So it fits, I guess.”

“Hmph. Well then, shh, Detective. **Chloe**. Sleep now, you’re fine. Or will be. You’ll be better able to badger me after some more shut-eye. Less babbly verbal meandering though, hopefully.”

She offered a small, sweetly disgruntled noise and cuddled herself further into his feathers.

Oh.

Oh my.

How **lovely** that was.

And that glorious sensation not possible without  his  choice to take these gifts back.

**Oh.**

He’d never felt this way about his wings, and the balm of her resting within them soothed as he hadn’t known he’d needed. Lucifer idly turned these new thoughts over in his mind and felt her drifting off as he was until she startled abruptly. “Trix?! My mom, Dan – are they, do they…?”

Sigh and chuckle. “Yes, all sorted. Amenadiel and Maze are helping. They’ll know but not be ‘in the know’ as it were. Linda is, however. Been. You can chat with her if you’re of a mind; might help with the sticky bits.”

Chloe sleepily considered this. It made sense; it was the nature of their relationship after all but she **was** slightly disappointed his therapist been first to grasp the totality of his reality. Not his fault though – he’d certainly told her often enough. She wondered how – and  when  \- Linda had come to know but realized quickly two things – she was too exhausted to figure it out now and despite the wear in his voice, Lucifer was **still** talking.  That  was pretty normal actually, and it made her grin.

“Any road, I made your daughter a promise to look after you and I do not break my word. She understands this – smartest of all of you sometimes, insistently endearing pest that she is. Ow.” This last was his response to Chloe’s finger flick on a long feather at his (rather apt) description of Trixie. Didn’t stop him, though. “Penny the same. They’ll right the Dou – Daniel. So hush now. As I said, you’re fine – or will be more when you wake properly. I’m here.”

Yes he was. And she was. And he was right about the other thing, too. It was enough.

For now.

But boy, wouldn’t he get a divine earful later!

Shielded behind his left wing, as he was himself a bit still, Lucifer could practically hear her mental grumble and it made his own sleepy smile warm. Ah yes, his sharp-minded and softly guarded-heart Chloe. She’d likely have lots to bludgeon him with later in her attempts to figure him out.

He was counting on it.

**_So was someone else._ **

Under the true light of dawn barely licking through Lucifer’s tall glass windows and cradled within the soft intrinsic light of the wings themselves (neither of which was theirs, nor any less than a miracle they themselves), sleep reclaimed them.

Together.

Safe.

Saved . By and with each other.

One of Lucifer’s parents smiled impossibly once more.

The other, most assuredly, did NOT.

**Author's Note:**

> The story ‘Shards’ gives some of my thoughts on the denouement of Lucifer’s wings, and they (and their location) make a brief reprise in ‘Head Trip’ as well. Clearly in my little mind he did not burn his real ones on the beach, and I’ve chosen to imagine here that they’ve got some healing properties. How he and Maze removed them occurs in Chapter 4 of Preamble, in a section titled 'Alterations and Adjustments'.


End file.
